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Bukit Batok

Bukit Batok, is an estate located in the west of Singapore. Bukit Batok in English literally means "Coughing Hill". It is bounded by Upper Bukit Timah Road, Old Jurong Road to the east; Pan Island Expressway to the south; Bukit Batok Road to the west and Chua Chu kang Road to the north. The total area of 9 sub-zones is approximately 1,104 ha. Bukit Batok is today a housing estate with public housing and a variety of private dwellings, industrial estates with all the necessary facilites and amenities.

History
Bukit Batok used to be a sleepy rural outback with undeveloped areas occupied by forests, farmlands and factories. In the 1950s, the Bukit Batok hill was quarried for its granite. The Japanese erected their victory monument here - the Japanese Memorial. In the 1960s, the sparse population lived in squatters and temporary structures. These made way for a modern satellite town in the 1970s. By the 1980s, Housing Development Board apartments filled the town of Bukit Batok

Key Features
Prominent landmarks include Bukit Batok Town Park, 'Little Guilin', with its landscape reminiscent of Guilin in China; Bukit Batok MRT Train Station and the Bus Interchange; the former Ford Factory where the British surrender to the Japanese took place on 15 February 1942 during World War II.

Variant Names
Malay names:
(1) Bukit means "hill" and batok, "coughing". The blasting noises from granite quarrying sounded very much as if the hill were coughing from far off.
(2) Batok kepala means "skull"



Author
Vernon Cornelius



References
Ramachandra, S. (1961). Singapore landmarks, past and present. Singapore: Eastern Universities Press.
(Call no.: RSING 959.57 RAM)

Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority. (1996). Bukit Batok planning area: Planning report 1996 (pp. 4, 6, 8). Singapore: The Authority.
(Call no.: RSING 711.4095957 SIN) 

The information in this article is valid as at 1999 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. Please contact the Library for further reading materials on the topic.

Subject
Architecture and Landscape>>Streets and Places
Suburbs--Singapore
Street names--Singapore
Urbanization--Singapore
Arts>>Architecture>>Public and commercial buildings
Arts>>Architecture>>Residential buildings



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